May 14, 2004

• I’ll still continue that planned set of reflections on Japan in my last few weeks; but today since this post will be long enough as it is, I’ll pick out an easier topic than I had planned. But for now:

  Last Minute Vacation

  So Mona (link on left) the other day says she’s thinking of making a day trip to Nara, seeing if anyone wants to come along. Classes are over and I’ve never been to Nara, so I’m up for it. She gets Matt, another IES-sei, up for going, too. On the way:

  Mona: I found a cheap hostel in Kyoto; it’s cheap to get there from Nara, too
  Matt: Hm… (nods)
  Me: … … …

  And the day trip ended up being two. No problem, though; in place of packing we hit up the 100-yen shop and the trains had some mighty nice views on the way there.

  Nara – Deer and Daibutsu
  

  Nara is famous for two main things–deer and the great Buddha statue (Daibutsu). Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Buddha as they all came out evanescent as the morning dew (read: blurry). Just have to make do with this:

  Besides the deer and great Buddha statue, there are plenty of other temples and lovely views wherever you can find them. In all, Nara turned out to be a good day-trip destination.

  Clouds over Kyoto

  I’ve never seen a clear day in Kyoto. It’s always… always raining. Still nice nonetheless. We arrived late in the afternoon and after dinner headed to our hostel for the night. An hour and twenty-five wrong turns later, we find the place and set down our bags.

  All that walking called for a bath. The three of us head down the street to a sento – smaller public bath. It was about the same as most other public baths I’ve seen; only difference is there was also an electric bath and back-massage bath as well. Oh and there were no monkeys in this one.

  Matt: (points to elec. bath) You should try that.
  Me: Electric bath? What’s the difference between that and a regular one?
  Matt: It’s the same water. Just it has electric waves running through it.
  Me: Hm… (Steps in up to ankle… nothing… to knees… nothing… to waist… no–ZZZZZZT)
  Me: Yahh!!! (jumps out)

  The following day we hit up a few of the major sites around Kyoto: Daitokuji, Kinkakuji, and Nijoujou in particular, plus a few other side-trips… some involving taking random turns to end up stuck in a cemetary. But it’s all part of the experience, right?

  This is getting long enough now, so I think I’ll be cutting it short. There was another entry I wanted to make about another, more major subject, but I’ll save that for next time. For now, on the way back the second mini-adventure we had on the JR lines feeling our way back to Nagoya brings to mind another subject. KF

  (Entry 2) Mass Transit

  If I had to guess, I would say that I’ve spent around 10% total of all my time here on some form of mass transportation. Every day I take a 40-50 minute commute, anytime I need to go anywhere else in the city I use the subway, and almost anytime I go travelling I go by train. Yes, it definitely is convenient, but years from now when I think back on Japan, one of the first images that’ll come to mind will be sitting on the train, reading, waiting to get to my destination. Don’t get me wrong, though. I do love mass transit: you don’t need to worry about parking your car, which streets are crowded, or rising gas prices. I love my home town of Nashville, but the thing that always gets me is how to go anywhere a car is a necessity. At least with DC, most of the major sites are near a subway station. Japan takes it to another level. Most every metropolitan area will have a fairly decent mass transit network. If you want to get anywhere in the city or some of the major places in the prefecture, then a car often isn’t needed. If you want to travel anywhere from Hokkaido to Kyushu, too, JR lines all crisscross the islands–not just Shinkansen, but regular trains, too. On the flip side of that, there are definitely negatives. Because they’re so convenient, everyone uses them. That means, come rush hour, trains can get ridiculously packed–try riding the Higashiyama-line subway cars between 7-9AM… Even the Meitetsu trains further up in Kasugai get mad packed at that time. And Tokyo… well… I’ve been on the Yamanote line when the conductors have to push people behind the doors to get them to fit. That Japanese politeness also completely disappears on the trains, at that. If anyone has ever told you that the Japanese are always polite and will never be rude to you… that moron has likely never been on a subway (he’s also likely never been to Japan longer than a week, but that’s another story). I still say excuse me (‚²‚ß‚ñE‚²‚ß‚ñ‚È‚³‚¢) if I bump into someone, but unless someone else steps on your foot or knocks you over don’t expect to hear it in return. (Of course, if you ever really want a response, you can freeze in your tracks, start bowing frantically and repeat “‚ ‚ I‚Ç‚¤‚àI‚·‚Ý‚Ü‚¹‚ñI” over and over). Then you have the more malicious problems. Pickpocketing and thievery aren’t so much of a deal here (despite it seeming so easy to do), but “subway molesters” (’sŠ¿) and the like are. Nagoya subways have a “women’s only car” during rush hour to help alleviate this, and you can see posters telling people not to let guilty passengers get away with it (“ƒ`ƒJƒ“‚ð‹–‚³‚È‚¢!“). But it’s still difficult. I hear, however, (by word of mouth) that foreign girls are far less likely to experience these sort of problems, perhaps because of a view (mistaken or not) that they’re unlikely to let something like that slide. Yeah so anyway, there’s a love-hate relationship I have with mass transit in Japan. Sure I have that 40-50 minute commute every day, but I got used to it after a few weeks and it gives me a chance to read the Japanese novel series I’m working through. And maybe it does get crowded, but they do get to where you need to go 99% of the time. And unlike some of my Japanese professors, I haven’t had to worry about bumping up against a young, attractive OL at the most inopportune times. So how do y’all like the JR? KF

   

  • 3:41 am
  • 5 Comments